Ultrasound smartphone gadget helped a doctor diagnose his own cancer

A 59-year-old doctor doctor diagnosed his own stage four cancer last summer with the help of his iPhone, according to MIT Technology Review.

Dr John Martin, who works as a vascular surgeon, was testing a handheld ultrasound machine Butterfly iQ, which connects to an iPhone. Dr Martin decided to scan his own neck with the help of the device because he felt a mass in his throat.

The results revealed that he had metastatic cancer, which had spread to his neck from his tongue and throat.

After diagnosing the cancer, Martin has undergone a five-and-a-half-hour surgery and radiation treatment reducing the cancer to stage three now.

Speaking about the device, Martin said: “To look at this as just an ultrasound device is like looking at an iPhone and saying it’s just a phone.”

He added, “If you have a window into the body where anyone can afford it, everyone can use it, and everyone can interpret it, it becomes a heck of a lot more than an ultrasound device.”

The device called the Butterfly IQ, is the first solid-state ultrasound machine to reach the market in the US Ultrasound works by shooting sound into the body and capturing the echoes.